


paying attention

by Little Keplerette (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, High School, also putting it here but dc in the same situation but the others use they/them more often, nonbinary cinnamon with he/him they/them pronouns!!!!!!!!, sometimes i'll use he sometimes i'll use they, sorry if you get confused by the way i switch pronouns for cinnamon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 15:27:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14571969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/Little%20Keplerette
Summary: "... Dude. Addie. Dude. you're staring." "SHIT."In which Adventurer realizes that maybe he should have paid attention when Cinnamon had started talking about family.





	paying attention

Adventurer was many things - an explorer, an aspiring billionaire playboy philanthropist, and a cryptid hunter.

Attentive, however, he was not.

To be fair, he had the attention span the size of a tablespoon, and even then it took quite a lot to keep his attention on one thing and one thing only for more than an hour. It wasn't his fault - there just  _happened_ to be so many interesting things around him, and so many places to explore; his heart had room for all of it, but his mind was always running itself ragged trying to fixate on all of them thoroughly enough that he'd remember them all for the years to come. It got hard to even leave space for actual  _learning_ in school in his brain, but he managed the best he could.

After all, he had his friends around to help him.

"Pay attention!"

**_THUNK._ **

"Ow!" Adventurer winced, rubbing at his head before scowling at Cocoa. "You didn't have t' _hit_ me."

Cocoa, to her credit, looked apologetic as she retreated back to her seat. "Sorry... Mint told me to."

"You traitorous minty fresh fuck," Adventurer accused, pointing at the aforementioned musician. Said musician was currently writing something in his notebook while flipping through a book on literature. "Hey, look at me when I'm talkin' t'ya, Minty!"

A pair of mint green eyes glanced up at him, and glanced back down at the notebook on his lap again. "I looked."

"Why I-" Adventurer was stopped from chucking his own book on literature at him by Cinnamon, who only gave him a pleading look as they pushed the book back down into Adventurer's lap. With an irritated sigh, Adventurer flipped open the book again, but threw himself on the grass of the school lawn soon after, groaning in frustration. "This is boring! Why do we have to learn it?!"

"Because we're in school, Addie," Cinnamon laughed, flipping the page on the book perched upon his knee before copying something down into their own notebook, just like Mint Choco. "Besides, this is one of the easier assignments. Just do it, and we'll probably ask Alchemist for help in chemistry later, if that's okay with you, Vampire?"

Vampire shrugged, leaning against the nearest tree to their little study group. "She's basically tutoring me, anyway. I don't think she'll mind."

"Can't believe your little sister's tutoring you in chemistry," Cocoa giggled. "But then again, she's always been pretty smart for her age."

The redheaded vampire only took his flask of grape juice and took a long swig before returning to his own book. "Her grape juice was of better quality. Also, did you understand that part for number seven?"

"Um..."

Adventurer let the voices of his friends fade out into background noises, filling his mind with a pleasant static that allowed him to drift off, yet again, into the world of imagination. His pen still in hand and his notebook still on his lap, the blond proceeded to map out his next escapade, involving Buttercream Choco's extremely large and extremely useless coin vault, filled to the brim with coins he refused to let circulate.  _The absolute madman. This is why the economy is suffering, the damn scrooge._ With an irritated sigh that caught Cocoa and Cinnamon's attentions, Adventurer let his eyes travel around the courtyard, looking at the other cookies running around.

By the fountain, he could see one of the older years (and one of Mint Choco's older siblings), Dark Choco, holding up Rockstar and Carol by the collars of their uniforms. Macaron was standing in front of them in her parade leader attire, apparently preparing for the next performance, but currently trying to diffuse the situation. It appeared that Rockstar and Carol were in the middle of a fight, because Carol kept swinging her arms and legs at the white haired rock star, who only stuck out his tongue in response and basically taunted her by all means necessary. Macaron was waving her arms, trying to calm them down, and Dark Choco simply stood there, unimpressed, and making a point to move the two farther apart from each other each time the other almost decked the other in the face.

By the hedges, Adventurer could see Herb, quietly watering the row of flowerpots by the base of the hedges with a smile on his face. By his side was the sweet-mannered Cherry Blossom, who assisted him the best she could - which pretty much just meant she stood around holding her parasol over him to keep the sun's heat at bay. Idly, Adventurer remembered the times when he would go over to Cherry Blossom's house for a school project, and she had to run out to get materials, leaving him to babysit her little sister, Cherry. Cherry was, for lack of a better word, quite the trickster, and it didn't help she was very good friends with yet another little trickster, Gumball. Many a time he'd found himself strung up on the wall and covered in paint splatters thanks to their little tricks before Cherry Blossom would come back home.

 _Wonder how Bloss is doing now, actually,_ He mused.  _Maybe I should give her a call, see if she's up to hang out again._

_**THUNK.** _

"Stop HITTIN' me!" Adventurer yelled, now angry. "Just tap on my fuckin' shoulder!"

Vampire raised an eyebrow. "Dude, that wasn't us. It was-" 

**_THUNK._ **

This time, Adventurer saw that Vampire had been correct, and that it had been something else hitting him on the head. Picking up the object that had nestled itself on the grass by his feet, he discovered that it was... "... Is this Carol's headpiece?"

"And her star clip." Cocoa's head turned to see Macaron running over, her cute macaron-like buns bouncing as she tried to run as best as she could to them. Once her shoes hit grass, she curtsied before apologizing, "Sorry, sorry! The argument got  _really_ out of hand, and Carol wanted to throttle Rockstar-"

"I don't blame her." Mint Choco snorted.

"It's cool, Mac. No biggie. Still hurts though." Adventurer held out the items to her, and just in time too - Carol had just smacked Rockstar in the face with her harp, and Dark Choco looked like someone who  _really_ wanted to be anywhere else but there at the moment. With a yelp, Macaron made her way back, nearly falling over as she did so, just in time for Rockstar to sock Carol right in the stomach.

Cocoa buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God."

"Whip's not gonna like this." Vampire murmured into his juice.

"This is why we never get along. He's an immature brat who picks fights with ladies." Mint Choco closed his book and notebook and tucked them away into his messenger bag, satisfied that he'd gotten his work done for the day.

Cinnamon raised an eyebrow. "... But you're also an immature brat who picks fights with-"

"That was  _once_ , and it was with  _her_ , and we both know that I did that on one of Vampire's dares." Mint Choco shot a look at the smirking Vampire, who only downed the rest of his grape juice before returning to his own work. "Seriously. I can still feel my back aching from when she slammed me into the chandelier."

"You  _had_ to do it for the cold curry."

"It was  _good_ cold curry. Cocoa made it."

"Aw, you know I could've just made you more."

 _And here we go again..._ Adventurer sighed, his gaze once more trailing off and watching the other students in the school. It was hard, paying attention to the arguments his friends were having when there were honestly so much more interesting sights and things to think about. Like how Ice Candy had been sweeping up some of the leaves only to run into a tree when Skating Queen did a triple axle, landing gracefully on her skates before heading towards where they were, joining the conversation. He'd waved to her briefly before turning his gaze away, just in time to see Peach suplexing her brother Muay Thai into the nearest hedge.

He let out an ugly snort at the sight, but he muffled it with a hand as Muay Thai soon proceeded to drop kick his sister into the nearest tree for revenge. This went on for quite some time, however, and Adventurer's interest was soon waning, so he let his eyes drift over to-

H.

H... huh.

Adventurer felt his heart skip two beats, and his breath caught in his throat.

_Who...?_

The person his eyes had landed on had their back turned to him, but if the clothes were any indication, it was one of the female students, talking to White Choco by the entrance to the G.J. Building. Medium-length violet hair was unevenly cut in a slant, and on the side of her head was an odd headpiece that reminded him of accessorized holly - except it was black. The berries of it were black, anyway. As White Choco bid her farewell, she turned around and  _oh my god oh my god oh my god-_

"Addie?"

_holy fuck. hoooooly fuck._

He had never seen heaven before this day.

"... Dude. Addie. Dude. you're staring."

 ** _SHIT._** "SHIT." Adventurer swore loudly, making the others turn towards him in confusion. Only Skating Queen had been quick enough to trace his gaze towards the girl who made a left past Herb and Cherry Blossom, and once she realized who he was staring at, she visibly choked on air, trying not to laugh and expose him.

Cinnamon looked confused. "Skating Queen?"

"Looks like the local cowboy's in-"

" ** _Don't say it._** "

"- looooooove!" Skating Queen finished, cackling at Adventurer's expense. The blond shrank into his uniform collar as his friends all turned to stare at him with wide eyes - some more than others. Cocoa looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect, while the others were desperately trying to follow the trail his eyes had gone through, trying to figure out who Skating Queen was referring to. But whoever she was, she was already long gone, and Adventurer, for once, had no intention of letting  _anyone_ beyond Skating Queen find out about the girl who'd just thrown him off track and basically sent him reeling into a lovesick spiral.

Wait, lovesick?

Adventurer made a face. He was  _not_ lovesick.

... Not yet.

-=-

"White! White!"

The captain of the fencing team, at the sound of Adventurer's voice, swung one last time at the air before straightening out, taking off her helmet and shaking out her hair before facing him. "Adventurer? I didn't know you were into fencing."

"I'm not! Erm, no offense, it's really ain't my thing," Adventurer grinned nervously. While he was good friends with Mint Choco, which meant he knew all the Choco siblings personally, he had to admit that sometimes -  _sometimes_ \- the elder Choco siblings intimidated him. Both Dark and White Choco held a position of power in the school's social hierarchy that had them radiate an aura of strength - one that had people in awe every time they passed. While Dark Choco retreated into the chorale and the quieter sections of the school, only rarely leaving people awestruck in their presence, White Choco was more prominent, being captain of the fencing team and a strong supporter of the student council's various activities. She was most famous, however, for always bringing victory to the school in her fencing competitions. But he begged to differ. "I'm more of a-"

"- rock climbing guy, gotcha," White Choco moved to the side and placed her helmet inside her bag. "But why are you here, then, if you're not going to try out for the fencing team?" Pause. "Did Mint send you?"

"Nah, I came here of my own accord," Adventurer scratched at the back of his neck nervously. "Say, uh, White?"

"Yes?"

"...hwtguwrtlknto?"

White Choco blinked, and tried to clear her ears. "Excuse me?"

"... huwasatgiryuwertalkinto?"

With a sigh, White Choco put down her fencing foil and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Adventurer. Use  _words_."

"Who was that... girl... you were talkin' to...?"

Silence.

White Choco let out a snort of laughter, making Adventurer look offended until she explained, "Adventurer. You're asking  _me,_ of all people, which girl I was talking to. Me? You really need to be more specific."

"HER! Silky violet hair! Pretty violet eyes! Cute black headpiece! You were talkin' to her a day ago!" Adventurer threw his hands up in the air before realizing what he had just said. Immediately, he felt his face burn with the heat of a thousand suns as he shrank back into his neckerchief, pulling his hat down nervously. "... Y'didn't hear that."

From the look on White Choco's face, gears appeared to be turning in her head rather quickly, because soon a mischievous smirk bloomed across her face. "Ohhhhh, her. Why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't... know her... name..." The cowboy drooped, and White Choco actually felt a little sorry for him. But only a little. "Um... a-anyway. Who was she? Is she a friend of yours?"

If any of the other Choco siblings had been here, they would have seen the flash of mischievousness pass through her eyes. "An ex-girlfriend."

"Wh."

Adventurer's thoughts went into a screeching halt.

"Y- e- guh-g-"

"Words, Adventurer, words." White Choco teased, turning back to her bag to zip it up before slinging it over her shoulder. When she turned back to face him, he looked like he was experiencing an internal shutdown. She winced.  _Peach is not going to be amused when she finds out about this._ "Adventurer- hey, Addie- I was joking- come on-" She reached out with a free hand, shaking his shoulder, to no avail. "Adventurer!  _Adventurer!_ "

**_THUNK._ **

"OW!" Adventurer yelped, finally snapping out of it as something clocked the back of his head. When White Choco looked down at the ground, she found only- "A balled up piece of paper?"

"H-he was clamming up!" A voice explained timidly, making both of them look up - and in Adventurer's case, turn around. By the entrance, Cotton Candy lingered nervously, another paper in one hand and her pen in the other. At their curious looks, she shrank back a little before saying, "Um! I just- I couldn't stand seeing- I couldn't stand seeing another cookie clam up around the person they liked just like I do and-"

White Choco visibly  _blanched._ "He's not my type. Peach is."

"Pe- PEACH?!" Cotton Candy yelped, face flushing a bright pink. "C-c-captain of the martial arts team?! Daughter of P-professor General Jujube?! Sister of-"

" _Yes,_ that Peach. She's my girlfriend. Don't tell anyone." White Choco groaned. Cotton Candy was an absolute sweetheart, she really was, but once she got the news regarding a new relationship, the chances of her keeping it to herself were slim. She had to tell at least one person who wasn't on the scene - no fault of hers, really. And if she couldn't tell anyone, she wrote it down - only to ball it up and throw it away. Where anyone else could find it. "Much as I want to tell the world about my pretty girlfriend, I don't want the journalism club following her around asking her questions about me. She doesn't deserve that."

Cotton Candy's hands flew up to her mouth as she nodded vigorously. "Mm-mm! I-I understand completely! I won't tell! I'll write it down right now-"  _Here we go._ "- and then give the paper to you for you to destroy!"

As the girl with the pretty pink eyes began writing on one of her many pocketbooks, Adventurer's gaze swiveled towards White Choco again, and gave her a teasing smirk. "So. Peach, eh?"

"You shut your trap, loverboy," White Choco warned as Cotton Candy handed her the paper. With a quick tear, the paper was now in two, then four, then sixteen, and so on, until it was merely a pile of shreds in White Choco's palm. She put them in her bag before slinging it back on her shoulder again. "Or I'm not telling you about your little crush."

"Fuck- wait, White, please-"

"Adventurer has a crush?!" Cotton Candy yelped. "I can't listen to this! No no no! I won't tell anyone I swear!"

Adventurer spun around to face her. "CC, wait-"

But she was already gone.

"That's going to be all over the school paper by next Monday, you know," White Choco murmured, patting Adventurer's shoulder sympathetically. The cowboy only groaned in response. "Well, on the brighter side of things... I can tell you all about your lovely lass, but only if you answer my question."

Adventurer looked up. "Yeah?"

"I'm surprised you don't already know her, since you hang around Cinnamon so much. Do they never tell you anything about their family?"

Beat.

Adventurer's face went white.

-=-

Okay, so maybe,  _maybe_ , he should have paid attention when Cinnamon had started talking about his family.

Maybe he shouldn't have dozed off half the times Cinnamon talked about life at home with- with Pretty Lady. He'd call her Pretty Lady for now, because he'd run off before White Choco could tell him anything about her. His feet were now making him run towards Cinnamon, who was on his way to the entrance, ready to go home, and with a yell, he body slammed straight into the aspiring magician, making them both tumble to the floor in a heap.

"Addie, you ass!" Cinnamon complained, pushing their body up with their arms, only to fail miserably. "Get  _off,_ you're crushing my brownies!"

" _Cinnamon. You gotta help me._ " Adventurer begged, clinging to the back of the other's uniform. " _Introduce me to her._ "

"Get  ** _off!_** " Cinnamon arched his back and flipped around, slamming into Adventurer's torso and knocking the wind out of him before getting up, dusting himself off. With a frown, he looked back down at Adventurer. "And another thing- introduce you to  _who?"_

"Pretty- Pretty Lady- _wait_ -" Adventurer wheezed, still breathless. "White Choco implied- she implied you were family-"

"I mean, that's a sweet sentiment and all since I'm dating her brother-"

"NO! I mean- White implied you and- you and Pretty Lady were family!"

"Addie,  _who in the hell is Pretty Lady?_ I only have one family and-" Suddenly, a light lit up in Cinnamon's eyes. The magician immediately zoomed in on Adventurer, and turned the tables on him, brown eyes wide. "Wait a minute. Are you... talking about... my sister?" At Adventurer's deer-in-headlights stare, Cinnamon continued, suspicions growing. "Pretty Lady? This Pretty Lady you're talking about- are you referring to my  _big sister?_ " Adventurer's gaze moved up and down. A yes - or as good a yes as Cinnamon would ever get from him. "Are you  _serious?_ My sister- you're calling my sister Pretty Lady? Since  _when?_ "

The blond's lips moved, but no sound escaped from them. Cinnamon was half ready to throttle him when the topic of their conversation suddenly spoke up, sounding rather confused. "... Cinnamon, is that you?"

"Big sister!" Cinnamon immediately sat up, allowing Adventurer's eyes to wander to the face of the aforementioned 'Pretty Lady'. Her violet eyes were half-lidded with disinterest and slight annoyance as she held out a hand to Cinnamon, who took it and got pulled up into a standing position. As Cinnamon dusted himself off, Pretty Lady turned to Adventurer, and held out her hand to him as well, but all he could do was gape.

"What did you  _do_ to him?" Pretty Lady asked Cinnamon, her brows furrowing slightly.

Cinnamon held up both hands. "Hey, I didn't do anything!  _He_ body slammed me to the ground and I just flipped him over! He's as heavy as an ox! I could've died!"

"Well, clearly, you did something, because he hasn't exactly responded to-" She was interrupted by the feeling of a warm hand in hers, and she looked back towards Adventurer, who had finally processed she was offering to help him up. With little effort on her end, she managed to help him stand before delicately removing her hand from his hold. "Sorry about... whatever Cinnamon did. Excitement can sometimes get the best of my unfortunate sibling."

"Hey!" Cinnamon interjected indignantly.

Adventurer, meanwhile, was more focused on the fact that her hand had been remarkably soft and warm, and that she was addressing him directly. With a swallow, he scratched at the back of his neck, mumbling, "T'ain't nothin', ma'am. I know Cinnamon ain't a bad bud. We're friends."

"I see." Her violet eyes flickered to Cinnamon questioningly before the magician got the hint, and immediately, Cinnamon introduced, "Um! This is Adventurer! I share a few classes with him. Adventurer, this is my sister, Blackberry!"

 _Blackberry, huh..._ Finally, a name to the face. With a more confident and comfortable smile, Adventurer tipped his hat at her. "Nice t'meetcha, miss Blackberry."

"Likewise." Blackberry's face was carefully neutral, but judging from Cinnamon's beaming face, that must have been a good response, so the blond beamed.

"It's funny, ma'am-"

"Don't call me ma'am."

"- miss Blackberry," Adventurer corrected. "That I ain't ever seen you before 'round school, like, ever, if you're Cinnamon's sister. I think I'd notice a pretty lady such as you running around."

Blackberry's eyebrow arched delicately, and Adventurer could have sworn a corner of her mouth was tilting up in a smirk. "Then perhaps you just weren't paying attention, cowboy, because I've certainly seen you more often than not."

Adventurer blinked once. Twice.

Cinnamon, on their end, blanched. " _Please_ don't flirt with him in front of me. Can we go home now? Ghost Butler must be worried, and I still have to feed Cinnamon Bunny."  


"Flirting? Who said anything about flirting? That was merely pointing out the obvious." Blackberry's painted lips  _definitely_ curled up the slightest bit in a mischievous smirk as she turned, her bag swinging around her other shoulder as she did so, but not before she glanced back at Adventurer. "I'll see you around, cowboy. Let's go, Cinnamon." And with that, the two siblings left, leaving Adventurer in the middle of the hallway, dazed, uniform ruffled, and hat askew his head, staring after them.

After some time, while cleaning the halls with Alchemist, Ice Candy found him fainted in the middle of the hallway, a goofy smile on his face.


End file.
